Ritual Circles in Wicca.

Beyond the Book of Shadows gives an initiated explanation of everything you need to know about casting a circle in Advanced Wiccan Ritual. The entire process is presented, from the initial clearing of the space to the raising of energy within a fully constructed circle of energy.

Along the way detailed instructions are given for the following:

How to use different placements of the elements around the circle to give different energetic effects,

The true purpose and meaning of the Altar and how to use one,

How to construct a Wiccan Temple, including purely energetic temples for use in rooms with more than one function,

How to use Pentagrams and Hexagrams in the casting of a circle,

How to invoke the guardians of the four elements and how to create your own Elemental Guardians for your sole use,

How to raise and use Energy, what it is and how it works.

The following is a short extract from the book.

Circles, more than any other geometrical figure, symbolise the concepts of wholeness and balance. They symbolise the cosmos and infinity; as a circle has neither beginning nor end. What is outside the circle or sphere (for in many ways they are inter-changeable), does not really exist for the purposes of the universe within the sphere.

In Wiccan Ritual or spells, casting a circle is usually done in a clockwise or Deosil direction. This is to follow the apparent direction of the Sun (and all of the other planets), across the sky and, by analogy, the direction of flow of subtle energies. This is of course, only true in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere anticlockwise will be the Deosil or ‘sunward’ direction and rituals should be conducted accordingly. Whichever hemisphere you find yourself living in, it is very good to experiment with this and feel the differences between casting ritual circles Deosil and Widdershins.

In Advanced Wicca the phrase 'casting a circle' is an uncannily accurate and appropriate description of the creation of an energetic sphere around us. In energetic terms, the drawing of a circle in ritual is a true act of magical creation. It is also an act of Human creation. We do it all ourselves. We do not, generally speaking, call on any other forces or beings to assist us or to give their energy to it. It is a demonstration of our own power.

To do it well, requires us to literally 'throw out' or cast, our energy, our aura, our whole sense of self, as far and as wide as we can as we 'cast the circle'. When doing so we should genuinely feel much bigger than normal, larger than life, as our energetic body encompasses the whole area of our working space.

There is a mystery within this. Casting a circle is truly an act of creation on our part. We consciously and deliberately create something on the inner planes and sometimes even to the etheric and almost physical level.

To do it successfully requires that we expand ourselves to be a little bit more than we usually are. The ability of creation is the mark of Divinity par excellence. We too have this ability given to us and in the creation of our own mini-worlds which are our circles, we mirror the Divine act of the creation of this universe.

It is not coincidental that circles are traditionally cast with swords or wands. These are two symbols of authority and are ultimately symbolising a Divine authority, which we are emulating and learning to develop. So, every time we cast our circle we are as a little god. Truly have magic and witchcraft long been considered dangerous and heretical arts!